Laurie DowningPoor standard Scalp MicroPigmentation treatments are becoming a blight, with ever more under prepared practitioners arriving on the market that is only to be expected. But what can be done to remedy the situation?
Perfection Is Achievable
We have read personal accounts on forums of SMP wearers that testify to just how good an SMP can get – A recent example was a chap who was visiting a dermatologist to have a scalp condition examined. During the examination he was told that maybe growing his hair out would help protect his scalp from the environment and alleviate his condition.
This is an incredibly rare example of a situation where someone will truly take a good look at your treatment. In the vast majority of social interactions no more attention would be paid to your SMP than to, say, whether or not your shirt is clean. The analogy stands up because if your first glimpse at someone’s shirt, stranger or friend, notices that the collar is filthy, you will find your eye constantly drawn to look at it. It’s perfectly natural, it is what your brain sees as “wrong with this picture”. Young hair loss sufferers will be very familiar with the problem… it is exactly the same reason that makes peoples eyes constantly flick toward the top of your head when you are talking to them. It drowns out the noise of all the other non verbal communication and can make social situations extremely uncomfortable.
For wearers of a good SMP, the positive aftermath of the treatment manifests best when engaging with strangers, as we all do all the time, and the eyes will flick to your head, once or twice, before their brain tells them everything is normal and it gets ticked off as something their eyes no longer need to study any further… that is not to say that, as a style, it does not have a certain gravity of its own and you may well get another highly unusual experience for a hair loss sufferer, looks of admiration!
Why Are There So Many Bad Ones?
It is a sad truth that people see the ticket prices for these treatments, confuse it with traditional tattooing and think it could be a business for them. Then, sometimes on the back of a training DVD, set up in business with little or no idea and utterly reliant on their supplier to deliver suitable equipment and safe pigments. Even then their troubles are only beginning.. it takes a long time to be able to recognise the variety of reactions that are possible after the first session, and to know exactly what to do for the second and third, sometimes a fourth. We still see claims of being able to complete in a single session. Typical lifespan for these businesses is 6 months to a year as they discover their overheads are considerable and it is not the gravy train they hoped for… just another business where you have to bring dedication and hard work to get on, not to mention spending considerable time in training.
Already Got A Bad SMP?
The number of men, worried for different reasons about the quality of their SMP, getting in touch with us for help seems to rise monthly. As does the number taking the time to write asking for help identifying a clinic, or sanity checking the procedure of their local clinic. It has become an increasing challenge to spot the genuinely experienced from those willing to lie about their background and populate their site with images taken from other clinics.
The end result is of course more bad treatments, which can only ever serve to undermine the entire industry. Your first step should be to a reputable clinic. An experienced practitioner could be able to achieve a great deal without the use of laser. But laser might well have to form part of your solution… in which case the hope must be that the pigments used contained no metal oxides which can cause skin damage during laser.
SMP Debate
So the moral of the story is clearly get the clinic right first. If you are in the process of researching then we would be delighted to help. Similarly, if you find yourself the victim of a bad SMP we would be happy to help you find someone to help. To get in touch please click here
